The invention is designed to produce a good inexpensive wind-up device which can be used with a conventional loom for weaving tire cord fabric of metal warp cords and textile weft threads. There are various mechanisms presently employed for winding up fabric. Some devices employ a center drive for rotating the take-up roll, or drum upon which the fabric is being coiled. Such devices are not very efficient in forming a roll of fabric woven from wire warp cords. Other, more sophisticated apparatuses employ two separate drive rolls in combination with a take-up roll, one of the drive rolls acting to pull fabric onto the take-up roll at a certain linear speed, and the other of the drive rolls utilized for driving the take-up roll at a speed greater than the linear speed of the fabric as it moves onto the take-up roll, thereby tensioning the fabric to eliminate any ruffles or bagginess in the fabric during the formation of a roll of fabric. The mechanism employing two drive rolls works well, but is expensive to fabricate, thus making its use with conventional weaving equipment, from a cost standpoint, not justifiable. The invention is directed to solving the problem by providing a different wind-up device which is comparatively inexpensive to manufacture and operates to produce a well coiled roll of tire cord fabric.
Briefly stated, the invention is in a device for winding up, or coiling a sheet of tire cord fabric. The wind-up device comprises a take-up roll on which a sheet of fabric is coiled, and a drive roll positioned adjacent the take-up roll for rotating the take-up roll in a rotary direction for coiling the fabric. Means are provided for causing relative movement of these rolls to maintain, as closely as possible, a predetermined pressure between the roll of fabric on the take-up roll and the drive roll, as the roll of fabric increases in size and weight. An idler roll is disposed adjacent the take-up roll for first engaging and changing the directional movement of the fabric and guiding the fabric immediately onto the take-up roll. The idler roll is rotated by the fabric as it passes onto the take-up roll and in a rotary direction which is opposite that of the take-up roll. The idler roll is designed to rotate about its own longitudinal axis which is parallel to the rotational axes of the take-up and drive rolls.